ACP Football: Midknight Madness Scrimmage is a Success

While ACP football’s regular season doesn’t get started for another handful of days, the Knights gave us a taste of what to expect last Friday night in the first ever Midknight Madness scrimmage. Both sides of the ball looked strong, with the offense scoring one touchdown (well, kind of two: more on that in the next paragraph) and a field goal. On the other side, the defense was able to pressure the quarterback all night and also forced a couple of turnovers.

The scoring opened up in the first quarter with a tiny bit of confusion. After getting stopped on third down, the special teams unit came on to try a field goal. Since this was a scrimmage, all special teams plays were played without a defense in order to avoid any unnecessary injury. The snap was botched on the field goal try, so the team went for a pass play. Of course, with no defense, this was an easy touchdown.

The second quarter saw two more scores from the offense. First, a successful field goal by Blaise Dalton. He appears to have a powerful leg; not many 2A schools have the luxury of a strong kicker. Later, the first touchdown which actually had defense on the field was scored on a long run by Jordan Diaz.

Halftime was a fun 15 minutes, featuring a performance from the spiritline team as well as a field goal competition with a few students in the crowd. The Knights also unveiled one of 4 uniform combos they will be wearing throughout the year. Pictured below is the purple-on-purple look shown Friday night.

Photo by Amber Butler

The defense tightened up coming out of the half, not allowing any big plays. The third quarter featured a sweet diving interception by Brian Dyson, while the fourth quarter saw several sacks by the defensive line. The offensive line appeared to be tired at this point after blocking for 3 quarters without much rest. The night would end without any more scoring, and the Knights walked off the field as Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” blared from the speakers.

Takeaways

Andersen feels like home– A question heading into the season was whether or not ACP’s games at Andersen would truly feel like home games. Friday night answered that question. STUGO and the football team did a wonderful job of making the field feel like Home of the Knights with posters, purple everywhere, and a great turn out from the student body.

The defensive line is strong– Throughout the night, the big boys at the front of ACP’s defense were all over the quarterback. Odyssey Institute’s quarterback will be scrambling for his life this Friday.

The offense has big-play potential– Only a few minutes into the game we were treated to a big 30-yard connection from QB Mark Chavez to receiver Ryan Jeffers. The pass would be the first of quite a few big plays throughout the night, including a 40 yard TD run from Jordan Diaz and a couple of highlight-reel jumping catches by Jackson Zeller.

ACP’s defense will force turnovers– The defensive unit had a couple impressive interceptions, most notably Brian Dyson’s diving pick. There were a couple more passes which would have also been picked off had the defense not dropped the ball.

ACP plays Odyssey Institute next Friday at 7 o’ clock. Be at Andersen to watch the Knights play their first ever game, and hopefully get their first ever win. Expect the bleachers to be rocking with the cheers of our students.